The present invention is an apparatus for producing waterstruck or soft mud bricks. Bricks of this type are usually made on reciprocating machines where clay is fed under considerable pressure into a stationary form and subsequently ejected from the machine.
The present invention utilizes a moving conveyor for brick forms into which clay is introduced from an overhead hopper having vibration and feed auger means. Downstream from the hopper, the clay in the moving forms is further vibrated by a diaper assembly as excess clay is struck from the top of the form.
The continuous or moving belt system is simpler and consumes less energy. It is also less expensive to construct and maintain. Additionally, the brick clay is composed of platelike crystals interlocked in a random manner. When the clay is forced under high pressure into a mold cavity, the crystals tend to collapse relative to each other, standing like a deck of cards. This weakens the ultimate structural integrity of the brick under point loading in the plane of stacking. By vibrating the clay as it is delivered into the forms and further vibrating the forms during the striking operation, the random clay crystal pattern remains undisturbed and the resulting bricks are much more resistant to point loading.
Some examples of the known prior art are contained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,440,715; 1,782,413; 2,019,428 and 2,061,497.